Durban woman’s 30th birthday car gift to self turns sour after buying a R200,000 lemon
A Durban woman who wanted to celebrate her 30th birthday in style by rewarding herself with a car, is now living in regret and agony after her R200,000 purchase from the Cars R Us dealership has turned into an expensive lemon.
Sinegugu Kunene, 30, from Wyebank, Durban, said purchasing the car left her in distress instead of improving her life.
Kunene is now at loggerheads with the dealership and she left the car with them in January after it broke down.
The mother of two bought a Hyundai i20 from the Cars R Us dealership in Umgeni Road on November 20.
The Standard Bank-financed car, which she is still paying a monthly instalment of R3,800 for, stopped working after it broke down suddenly nearly a month later.
The woman who works as a facilitator for a Hillcrest-based company, said she later learnt that the car was last serviced in August 2021 for its standard 30,000km service. She said she bought the car with the mileage at about 48,000km.
It later emerged, that the issue with the car was a damaged cylinder head. A mechanical warranty claim was rejected on the basis of the missed 45,000km service.
Warranty claims are normally based on the car being serviced every 15,000km.
Speaking to IOL on Wednesday, Kunene accused the dealership of selling her a lemon that came with no Dekra Condition Report, — the report is a customised, professional used vehicle condition evaluation check — no roadworthy certificate and no service book.
She accused the dealer of not servicing the car for the 45,000km service.
“I trusted them, I didn’t think they would do me dirty, they are a well-known company. Unfortunately I was wrong, my joy was short-lived, I didn’t even drive the car for more than a month before it stopped working,” she said in a telephone interview.
Kunene said she started noticing that the car had issues just days before Christmas when it struggled up a steep road while she drove to her rural homestead in Richmond.
“I didn’t think much of it, I just assumed that it was losing power because it was the first time I had driven it a long distance. But after going up the hill, it completely gave up. I couldn’t do anything to it.”
She said she called the dealership and they told her there was nothing they could do as it was the weekend.
“They didn’t help me with anything and then I called the insurance company and they towed the car to the dealership.”
Kunene’s car pain
Kunene said she only learned that the car was last serviced in August 2021 when her mechanical warranty insurance company rejected her claim due to a missed 45,000km service.
“I got in contact with the dealership and I told them that they intentionally sold me a faulty car which hasn’t been serviced for two years, which is why they cooked a story about the service book.
“But they didn’t want to acknowledge that they did me wrong, instead they blamed me and said I’m the one who ruined the car.
“I am now paying for a car that I’m not even driving, I also spend about R1,000 on taxis going to work, just imagine all the money that I am spending,” she said in distress.
Kunene, who earns a modest salary, said she could not afford to pay for the repairs out of pocket.
She provided IOL with communication history between her and the dealership, and in one of the emails, the dealership accused her of being negligent, saying she drove the car without water in the cooling system.
IOL approached the Cars R Us dealership for comment and the company said they were not willing to comment as the matter has now been referred to the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa (MIOSA) for resolution.
The company representative would not divulge her name in email correspondence.
Legal Advice
Legal commentator Nthabiseng Dubazana, of Dubazana Attorneys, advised first-time car buyers who were buying a used car to insist on a Dekra inspection report from the seller. This report contains the entire history of the car including accidents, inspections, tyre wear and other hidden mechanical details.
“On the contract, there also must be a clause that states that should there be any defect, the seller is liable to a certain extent. But unfortunately most second hand car sellers do not do this, they simply repaint the car and make it seem like it is in good condition,” she said.
Dubazana said if Kunene’s claims were true, it means the contract was concluded with bad intentions and she can take the seller to court and hold them accountable for withholding certain information that was important when buying the car.
In a previous IOL report, the spokesperson for insurance company Virseker, Elmarie Twilley, said it was important to make sure to thoroughly be informed about the car’s condition and ensure you don’t end up buying a problem.
“You could be buying yourself anything from a major repair project, to an accident waiting to happen, if you’re not careful,” Twilley said.
“When buying a used car, it’s essential that you are thoroughly informed and maintain a healthy sense of scepticism to ensure that you don’t end up buying a real skedonk.”
brenda.masilela@inl.co.za
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